Despite putting his opponent to sleep with a guillotine choke on the preliminary card of UFC 165, Canadian Mitch Gagnon thought he would have to be happy with his “show” and “win” purses.

When Gagnon saw heavyweight Brendan Schaub choke Matt Mitrione unconscious on the pay-per-view main card of this past Saturday’s event at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, he figured a $50,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus would go out the window.

“It was main card, and it’s a pretty slick submission on his part,” Gagnon told MMAjunkie.com Radio.

Thankfully, he was wrong. In a somewhat surprising move, UFC President Dana White announced Gagnon (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) would get the bonus for his submission of Dustin Kimura (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), which was his second straight victory since a submission setback against Bryan Caraway in his debut.

Now, the 28-year-old fighter from Sudbury, Ontario, wants to get busy in the 135-pound division, where he’s been absent the past year due to injuries. Although he doesn’t have any opponents in mind, he’s already tweeting the UFC to get him on a card as soon as possible.

“Whoever they want to put in front of me, I’m game to go in there and do what I do,” said Gagnon, who’s earned six of his 12 wins via guillotine choke and 10 of 12 by submission.

Despite his success in the ground game, Gagnon said he’s been working to improve his striking game. He aggressively exchanged punches with Kimura early in the Sept. 21 fight, which aired on FOX Sports 1, and landed several shots before a body blow put him in trouble.

A frenzied exchange saw Gagnon return fire with punches that rocked Kimura and set him up for the fight-ending submission.

“I’ve been working a lot on my striking with my coach, who’s a world-class kickboxer for Glory,” Gagnon said. “He really changed my standup quite a bit. I had a game plan with Dustin. I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to do, and around the middle of the round, I started to get more comfortable, and it started working for me.”

Gagnon hopes that comfort will only continue to grow as he pursues gold as a healthy competitor.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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